Renee of Womanist Musings recently posted a piece, Nappy Hair In the Jolie-Pitt World, in response to negative responses about the condition of Angelina Jolie's daughter's hair in this photo (Zahara). I think the post is really interesting as are the comments.
In her post, Renee takes exception with comments from others about Jolie needing to learn how to take better care of her daughter's hair:
While braids and bows are certainly one way to treat hair, again why is it so unacceptable that Zahara is allowed to have her hair flow freely?I know that as a white mother who raised a black daughter, I was judged -- especially by black women -- on my fitness as a mother based on the condition of my daughter's hair. People had no problem coming up to me and telling me her hair was a mess and how to fix it. Frankly, they were usually right. I didn't take in those criticisms as internalized hatred of their hair or my daughter's. Until I learned how to better care for my daughter's hair, I had allowed it to be dry, broken, unkempt. Learning how to braid, twist, oil and comb her hair was not being anti natural hair; it was, for me, about love for her and respect for her cultural identity.One of the first thing a little Black girl learns is that unlike White children, her hair is automatically assumed to be a problem to be managed. Rarely are we taught to marvel at the gravity defying shapes that it can take on and before we can articulate any coherent feelings on the matter, the world has already encouraged us to internalize a negative concept of Black womanhood.
My granddaughter is growing up in a time when natural hair styles are embraced for kids and adults alike (not so true when her mom was small). She and many of the kids at her day care proudly sport Afro puffs, 'fros, locks, and more. I love this freedom of expression. But when I head to that day care at the end of a day, I can see clearly see among the kids a difference between a lovingly kept head of natural hair, a natural style that's gone messy by the end of a day of play, and hair that is dry, broken, matted, and neglected.
So while I agree with everything Renee says about loving and claiming natural hair, when I look at this picture of Zahara, I don't see an example of natural hair embraced for its fierce curls and kinks. I see hair that needs some TLC, regardless of if her mother is white or not.
What's your take?
Related post by me on this topic: (Nappy) Hair Notes
UPDATE 8/10:
I have listened to the people who chose to post their comments or email me and I have come to realize I need to evolve. My "white mom/brown child" hair issues were born 25 years ago and times have changed. It's time for me to catch up! As a friend would say, "Let it 'fro!"
It looks to me like something was attempted with her hair and she took it down. I know that there are plenty of white mothers that are unaware of Black hair care procedures but Angelina has named the products she uses in her daughters hair and that does to me show that she has taken the time to learn. This is always going to be a controversial subject as Black hair is never easy to speak about. Most of all though I wish the commenters involved would remember that they are speaking about a little girl, and calling her a hot mess is unnecessarily cruel.
ReplyDeleteI agree about not calling out her hair in that way! I remember a time when my kids were in grade school and we were in the check out line at Target. A woman said to me, right in front of my kids, "It's too bad your son got the 'good' hair and not your daughter." I told her, "I think they both have beautiful hair." I did so because my kids were listening and needed to hear that, needed me to be there for them.
ReplyDeleteI am a proud loctress. And in my personal journey to "earn"the right to wear my hair this way, I had to first learn, acknowledge and embrace the history of how it came to be this way. I think natural black hair is not about "managing" it like a problem or having it be "the in thing." It's about respecting the culture and understanding different doesn't = bad.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like her hair has just been taken out of braids; I think she is adorable and her hair looks healthy and free – it just doesn’t “conform” to how we’ve conditioned ourselves to believe our black hair should look. Nobody has said anything about her other beautiful little girl whose hair is just pulled into a “messy”, cute little ponytail…
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I don’t believe that black hair needs all the oiling, twisting, braiding, etc. It’s just a type of hair styling for black hair. As a former black hairstylist used to tell me, black hair doesn’t need all the oil we put in it – we have natural oil from our scalp (from taking care of our bodies, etc.). I haven’t put oil in my hair for years. And neither has W. as well as many other of my sister friends. I have many pictures of beautiful black women who have just let their natural hair grow free – washing, combing (maybe locking) or - as seen in the picture below - taking out braids, running their fingers through their hair and just letting it “flow”. That’s my take!
I think Zahara's hair always looks healthy, clean and natural. All her photos look the same way. Obviously, Miss Jolie knows how to care for the girls hair and leave it in it's natural state without trying to "tame" it. It never looks dry or brittle or uncared for. It just goes to show how black hair can seem to the white masses as "unruly" when white hair often is blowing wildly all over their faces in some undefined style, and no one says that their hair needs to be "taken care of".
ReplyDeleteWow! Great discussion on this. Based on what you all have said, I'm feeling like some of my hair attitudes may be stuck in the 80s and it's time to free my thinking! Ann
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